Border Security Force (BSF) constable Tej Bahadur Singh’s video-complaint about the plight of jawans has caused a stir. His counterpart from the Central Reserve Police Force, Jeet Singh has also joined the chorus to complain about a similar discrimination the CRPF jawans face. While the twin incidents throw light on quality of life of jawans, their higher-ups are into firefighting mode.
The BSF has almost declared its own jawan a mad-drunkard, whose video of burnt roti should not be treated as authentic. The officials want us to believe that the tasteless dal cooked with mere salt and haldi is actually an oil-free specialty.
“Constable Tej Bahadur as an individual has a difficult past. From the initial days of his career, he needed regular counseling. Different correction mechanics have been applied for the individual’s welfare as he was a habitual offender of absenteeism without permission, chronic alcoholism, misbehaving and using force with senior officers and certain other acts against good order and discipline,” the BSF said in a statement.
The security force also added that due to his chequered track record, Bahadur had served mostly in the BSF headquarters under the supervision of senior officers and that he had been sent “just 10 days back to his place of deployment along the LoC to facilitate support to high altitude forward locations.”
If BSF is to be believed, how come Bahadur was posted in a conflict zone like Kashmir? Wasn’t this “maniac” dangerous for civilians?
Well, if BSF is speaking the truth then luck has definitely favoured Kashmir this time. But do we really need to peep into the mess to know what jawans are fed? To people like me, who are living in a military zone, the video looks pretty genuine.
In a country where the Prime Minister leads an yoga campaign with his followers in branded tracksuits, the jawans are often seen in a weird uniform. While forces of developed countries wear branded uniforms, our jawan stands proudly on guard in his traditional rubber boots, encasing his cracked leather shoes.
Coming across a CRPF jawan wearing a weird cotton jacket in biting cold is a common sight in Kashmir. CRPF jawan are often seen asking the children to get him medicine for common cold or fever from nearby locality shop as his superiors wouldn’t let him go anywhere without proper permission.
Such request from a coughing soldier is enough to melt the hearts of aazadi-seeking Kashmiris. The one who otherwise shouts “aadhi rorti khayangay, sir nahi jhukayangay” is ready to get medicine for a jawan living on sukhi roti.
However, our nationalist government has been very merciful towards the “rebel soldier”, Tej Bahadur. He could have been charged for defying union government guidelines, which forbid jawans from using social media like Facebook. What if he was using his smart phone to share sensitive information on roti-making with Pakistan? Tej Bahadur can even be booked for waging war against the nation.
In digital India, armed forces may soon be denied the right to use smart phones. As of now India is being made choose to between the two hashtags: #UdtaJawan or #SukhiRoti!
